My husband grew up in Markham, went to high school in Markham and went to university in Toronto with a big group of his high school friends. Many of these friends still live in Markham today and whenever there’s a gathering, it’s often uptown. This is even more true now that babies have been added to the guestlist. Last summer, one of our friends who had been working in Hong Kong was back in town visiting, which prompted a large group dinner. His only restaurant request was non-asian. WIth this criteria and the size of our group, we picked Tapagria for dinner based on their positive reviews and tapas style menu. Overall, although atmosphere and service were excellent, I found the food fairly disappointing.

Atmosphere: Our group was set up in the small private room of the restaurant, which was richly decorated, but did not have any natural light. The room had one long table, small chandeliers, a navy and gold brocade wallpaper and white wall moulding. We were separated from the rest of the restaurant and could move around, switch seats and chat without worrying about disturbing other diners. In terms of privacy and a luxe feel, the private room at Tapagria was perfect.

Service: For large groups, an automatic gratuity of 18% is included in the bill. A few servers took care of our group and were all friendly and professional. As people trickled into the room, everyone’s drink orders were taken and we separated our order into four groups. The restaurant was very accommodating for separate bills and keep trying of complicated orders. I did find that dishes arrived from the kitchen in batches, which led to people who ordered similar items eating first while others waited.

Food: The Hubs and I decided to order a few Tapas dishes just for the two of us, which in hindsight limited the number of dishes we could try. For the two of us, we ordered 5 dishes that totaled to $60/person and was not filling. A few of these dishes had more expensive ingredients but I wasn’t quite satisfied with quality or quantity for the price.

From the Pintxos section of the menu, we tried the Smoked Eggplant ($5), a spread served on two slices of baguette. I liked the flavour of the eggplant and the textures. Next to arrive was the seared Foie Gras ($22). For the price, the piece of foie gras was a good portion and excellently seared. At this point, I still had high hopes for dinner after the first two bites, but we hit a few speed bumps with our seafood dishes. Both the Scallop Ceviche ($16) and Octopus Leg ($15) were disappointing from portion size to flavour. The scallops were sliced paper thin and lightly seasoned with olive oil and spices. I couldn’t really taste the scallop, there was so little with each bite. As for the octopus, the texture was gummy and inconsistent. I’ve tried similar dishes at other Spanish restaurants in Toronto that were better executed.

Our last dish was the Roasted Bone Marrow ($18) and this was my favourite plate of the night. There was a good amount of marrow in each bone and served on a bed of crostini. I would’ve liked a little bowl of sea salt to season each bite myself.

While we skipped out on the Paella, which takes 45 minutes to prepare, there were orders at our table and I got to try a few bites. Of what I tasted, I found the seasoning heavy handed. Another dish my friends ordered that looked good was the Artisanal Meat Board. I do think I would’ve enjoyed dinner more if we had ordered different menu items, but from this experience alone, I wasn’t a fan.